and president obama is not wily coyote. he's not going to let the republicans roadrunner him as they have in the past. that's the reason he is hesitating. the president in fact tried to curb medicare spending through the affordable care act. what happened? republicans demagogue done it, they talked about death panels. you had these old, white-haired medicare recipients screaming in town hall meetings. so, new york city the president is not going to get out there and lead this parade. as far as republicans on health care spending, you know where they're cut? medicaid. that's health care spending for the poor. they will go after that. but they're not going to do very much on medicare. >> i think what the republicans are trying to do here by, as john says, focusing on health care costs, first of all, to avoid the social security thing because that's always the most dangerous, also force the president to defend the health care law, which is at best controversial in the country. >> but isn't there an upside politically for the p